Readers’ Note: Dr. Alivisatos (Berkeley) has been a pioneer of ‘nano-cystals’ and their potential applications. Most recently these ‘crystals’ or Quantum Dots have found their way into commercial application for Display Screens. However the much larger vision for QD’s has significant (“game changing”) implications for: Solar Energy, Bio-Medicine, Drug Theranostics & Delivery, Lighting and Hybrid-Materials (Coatings, Paints, Security Inks as examples). Enjoy the Video ~ Team GNT

SNOW: When quantum dots of different sizes are grouped together by the billions, they produce vivid colors that have changed the way we look at display screens. The initial research, funded by the NSF, has found its way into many applications, including a nanotechnology company called Nanosys, which produces 25 tons of quantum dot materials every year, enough for approximately 6 million 60 inch TVs.

ALIVISATOS: What we have here is a plastic film that contains inside of it quantum dots, very tiny, tiny crystals made out of semiconductors. It actually contains two sizes of nanoparticle – a very small size that emits a green color and a slightly larger size that emits a red color of light.

SNOW: This film is embedded into tablets, televisions, and laptops to enhance their displays with brilliant color.

ALIVISATOS: One of the things that we’ve learned about vision is that we have receptors in our eyes for green, red and blue colors. And if we want a really high quality display, we need to match the light emission from our display to the receptors in our eyes.

What is Nanotechnology? A basic definition: Nanotechnology is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale. This covers both current work and concepts that are more advanced. In its original sense, ‘nanotechnology’ refers to the projected ability to construct items from the bottom up, using techniques and tools being developed today to make complete, high performance products.

Nanotechnology (sometimes shortened to “nanotech”) is the manipulation of matter on an atomic and molecular scale. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal of precisely manipulating atoms and molecules for fabrication of macroscale products, also now referred to as molecular nanotechnology. A more generalized description of nanotechnology was subsequently established by the National Nanotechnology Initiative, which defines nanotechnology as the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers.

This definition reflects the fact that quantum mechanical effects are important at this quantum-realm scale, and so the definition shifted from a particular technological goal to a research category inclusive of all types of research and technologies that deal with the special properties of matter that occur below the given size threshold. It is therefore common to see the plural form “nanotechnologies” as well as “nanoscale technologies” to refer to the broad range of research and applications whose common trait is size. Because of the variety of potential applications (including industrial and military), governments have invested billions of dollars in nanotechnology research. Through its National Nanotechnology Initiative, the USA has invested 3.7 billion dollars. The European Union has invested 1.2 billion and Japan 750 million dollars

29 Nov 2013

Last month, Amazon released Kindle Fire HDX 7 — the first ever mobile device to feature a quantum-dot-enhanced display.

The 7″ display includes a Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEF) produced by 3M in collaboration with Nanosys, Inc. Compared to the traditional LED-LCD display, the QDEF essentially replaces the YAG phosphor of the white LED backlight and functions as a high-efficiency photoluminescent emitter. The ODEF includes quantum dots of different sizes, which would emit different colors when excited due to quantum confinement effect. More detail of the QDEF can be found via the link below.

It is noted that the quantum-dot-enhanced display of Kindle Fire HDX 7 does not utilize the electroluminescent property of quantum dots, and thus is not actually a quantum dot light emitting diode (QLED). Nevertheless, it could signal the beginning of the mass commercialization of quantum dots technology in consumer markets.

And the “very best” of today’s display technologies according to Displaymate, quote,

“The very best of today’s display technologies? The Quantum Dots displays used in the Kindle Fire HDX 7 according to the report.

Quantum Dots are almost magical because they use Quantum Physics to produce highly saturated primary colors for LCDs that are similar to those produced by OLED displays. They not only significantly increase the size of the Color Gamut by 40-50 percent but also improve the power efficiency by an additional 15-20 percent. Instead of using White LEDs (which have yellow phosphors) that produce a broad light spectrum that makes it hard to efficiently produce saturated colors, Quantum Dots directly convert the light from Blue LEDs into highly saturated primary colors for LCDs. You can see the remarkable difference in their light spectra in Figure 4. Quantum Dots are going to revolutionize LCDs for the next 5+ years.”

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How does QDEF work?

Nanosys QDEF™ enables deep color and high efficiency by providing displays with an ideal light source. How does it do that?

Each sheet of QDEF contains trillions of tiny (by tiny we mean: a bit bigger than a water molecule but smaller than a virus in size) nanoscrystal phosphors, called “Quantum Dots .” Not found naturally occurring anywhere on Earth, these “dots” can be tuned, by changing their size, to emit light at just the right wavelengths for our displays and do so very efficiently.

Unlike conventional phosphor technologies such as YAG that emit with a fixed spectrum, quantum dots can actually convert light to nearly any color in the visible spectrum. Pumped with a blue source, such as the GaN LED, they can be made to emit at any wavelength beyond the pump source wavelength with very high efficiency (over 90% quantum yield) and with very narrow spectral distribution (only 30 – 40nm FWHM.) The real magic of quantum dots is in the ability to tune the color output of the dots, by carefully controlling the size of the crystals as they are synthesized so that their spectral peak output can be controlled within 2 nanometers to nearly any visible wavelength.

For the first time, display designers will have the ability to tune and match the backlight spectrum to the color filters. This means displays that are brighter, more efficient, and produce truly vibrant colors.

How does it all come together?

Engineering the quantum dots to precise display industry specifications isn’t enough to revolutionize the way LCDs are experienced on its own. The dots need to be easily integrated into current manufacturing operations with minimal impact on display system design if they are to be widely adopted. To do this, Nanosys spent a lot of time working with major display manufacturers to get the packaging just right so that it would be a simple, drop-in product that did not require any line retooling or process changes. The end result is called Quantum Dot Enhancement Film or QDEF.

Designed as a replacement for the an existing film in LCD backlights called the diffuser, QDEF combines red and green emitting quantum dots in a thin, optically clear sheet that emits white light when stimulated by blue (some of that blue is allowed to pass through to make the B in RGB at the LCM of course). So manufacturers who’ve invested billions in plant and equipment for LCD production can simply slip this sheet into their process, change their ‘white’ LEDs to blue (the same LEDs but without the phosphor) and start producing LCD panels with the colors and efficiencies of the best OLEDs, at a fraction of the cost and current industrial scale.

Nanosys is currently shipping production samples to display manufacturers and is on track to begin producing at commercial volumes fall of 2013.

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